WhatsApp appoints Ezetap CEO Abhijit Bose as India Head

After a long wait and pressure from the Indian government, WhatsApp has finally appointed Abhijit Bose as India Head. Bose is the co-founder and CEO of Ezetap, an enterprise payments solutions firm.

The development comes within a month when the company’s CEO Chris Daniels made his second visit to India. During his meeting with government officials, he also announced that India head will be named before the year-end.

Interestingly, this is one of the rare instances where a founder and CEO of a fledgling startup left it for a corporate role in India.

The Facebook-owned company has been scouting for the head of operations for the country and several names came cropped up during the period.

According to the company’s statement, Bose will build WhatsApp’s first full country team outside of California which will be based in Gurugram. Bose and his team will focus on helping businesses, both large and small, connect with their customers, it added.

“I am leaving excited that Ezetap has unique capabilities and people that will fuel its continued growth, and that it will reach higher peaks in the coming years,” said Bose through a press statement.

He is expected to join WhatsApp by early next year.

As of now, WhatsApp has only hired Komal Lahiri as a local grievance officer for India following the concern raised by the Supreme Court. In September, Facebook had appointed Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan as head of India operation.